Live from Facebook, it’s President Obama – Social network to broadcast virtual town hall

President Obama will host a virtual town hall meeting on April 20 from Facebook Inc. headquarters in Palo Alto, an event that will be broadcast on the social network’s own channel, Facebook Live, the White House announced Tuesday.

According to the White House’s Facebook page, the event will be streamed live starting at 1:45 p.m. Pacific time and include Facebook’s top two executives, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.

Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign was helped by the use of social media and he used e-mail and a YouTube video posted on Monday to kick off his campaign for re-election in 2012.

Now he’s again turning to the social network, which has an estimated 600 million members worldwide, for a 21st century version of a fireside chat.

“President Obama will connect with Americans across the country to discuss the tough choices we must all make in order to put our economy on a more responsible fiscal path, while still investing in areas like innovation that will help our economy grow and make America more competitive.

Judging from some of the comments already pouring in on the event’s Facebook wall, the president will have a skeptical audience.

One Oregon man posted that he volunteered for the 2008 campaign as a 15 year old, but then said, “I need you to tell me why I should do that again. You vowed to run a more transparent White House. However, as Jon Stewart pointed out, you have run one of the most closed governments in American history to the point of accepting a transparency award at a closed meeting. What will you do to change this?”

This isn’t the first time Facebook Live has hosted a big name politician. Zuckerberg chatted with former President George W. Bush when he visited Facebook headquarters in November, a month after New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg dropped by.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., have also appeared on Facebook Live.